Trade Deficit, Imports and Exports Drop in November

Thursday, January 07, 2016

Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report

The monthly U.S. trade deficit in goods and services fell 4.9 percent in November to $42.4 billion, according to trade statistics released Jan. 6 by the Department of Commerce. Imports slipped 1.7 percent to $224.6 billion and exports fell 0.9 percent to $182.2 billion. Year-to-date the deficit has risen 5.5 percent on declines of 4.6 percent for exports and 2.8 percent for imports.

The goods deficit fell 3.6 percent in November to $63.1 billion. Imports of goods were down 2.0 percent to $183.5 billion as imports of cell phones and other household goods fell $1.8 billion and imports of pharmaceutical preparations decreased by $600 million. Exports of goods were down 1.1 percent to $122.2 billion, including decreases of $500 million for nonmonetary gold and $300 million for cell phones and other household goods.

The services surplus fell 0.5 percent to $18.9 billion. Imports were down $100 million to $41.1 billion and exports fell $100 million to $60.0 billion.